Please welcome author Melissa Bourbon Ramirez, her ten favorite things, and a look at her new romantic suspense from Entangled Publishing!

Melissa Bourbon Ramirez: 10 Things I Love Doing

In honor of summer, today I thought I’d write about 10 things I love doing. I’d love to hear some of the things you enjoy, too! Maybe I’ll be able to add to my bucket list, as a result.

Yoga. I sometimes have to drag myself to the studio, but once I’m there, oh my gosh, I love it. I come away feeling lighter and more at ease.

Cooking healthy. With 2 kids with celiac disease, 1 with type one diabetes, me with a dairy sensitivity, and two vegetarians in the family (5 kids!), making something everyone can eat is challenging. So I am passionate about cooking and eating as healthy as possible.

Sewing. I don’t do nearly enough of it, but I am on an apron kick. Aprons play a big role in my next cozy mystery book, so right now, I’m collecting patterns, stories, and enjoying every minute of it.

Watching ‘comfort’ movies like Harry Potter, The Hobbit, et al. They just make me feel good no matter how many times I’ve seen them.

Baking Christmas cookies. Just because.

Decorating. We have an old house that was built in 1900 and I am loving finding cool things with history to decorate with, yet still stay true to my style. If I were to have another career, it might be interior design. Maybe.

Writing. Of course! I love it, which is why I do it. Challenging. Exciting. Fulfilling. And I get to share my stories with readers, which is the best part.

Crafty things… there are too many to list separately, so I’m lumping them together. This is how I feed my creative soul.

Hanging out with my kids and husband. I enjoy them so much and am loving seeing them grow up and become such awesome adults.

Reading on my iPad. I’m a total convert to the eReader. As much as I love print books, I adore my eReader for the convenience and ease.

What are some of your favorite things to do?

Curse of Passion

The ghost of la Llorona is said to haunt the riverbanks, always searching for her drowned child. She also haunts high school teacher Johanna Rios, whose own mother believed so deeply in the legend she tried to drown her daughters. And now the ghost has become real, a young woman murdered, and the safe world Jo created is falling apart.

Since returning home from his last tour of duty to become a school principal, Ray Vargas has fought his attraction for his employee, the sensual woman who’d once been the girl next door. But the Llorona Killer will not stop until he claims his final victim—Johanna—and Ray will do anything to protect the woman he’s come to love.

With a serial killer out to prove the curse is real, will Ray and Johanna’s future be drowned in the ghostly waters of the past? Or will the power of their love give them the strength to stop a killer…and heal their wounded hearts.

Curse of Passion | Excerpt

Johanna paced and turned toward him, but still hadn’t noticed Ray in the doorway. He catalogued her features. She was thirty-two, with honey-colored skin, cheekbones that gave her an exotic look, long, dark hair…

As it often did, his gaze hitched at her full, red lips. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d kissed lips like that. Maybe never.

The sliver of skin showing between her sweater and her pants drew his eyes. She looked far hotter than any teacher had a right to—certainly hotter than any teacher he’d ever had. Thank God, or he’d never have graduated.

He felt his eyes pinch and blinked hard to break the drugged feeling that suddenly slid over him. He’d done his best to steer clear of her for years, and after this conversation, he’d go back to staying away.

“Who is this? What do you want?” Johanna’s voice held fear, tinged with anger.

That was not a tone Ray associated with Johanna. He froze in place. He’d been trained well by the Army. Freeze first. Assess. Decide. Then move.

She spoke again, her voice rising in pitch. “Would you just stop calling?”she demanded, her voice shaking.

Distressed. Johanna was distressed. Time to act. Ray moved then, coming into the classroom, bumping a desk as he came toward her, startling her.

She whipped around, gasping as she saw him. Her face paled, and a second later she dropped her cell phone on her desk. She speared her hand through her hair, her fingers bending until they looked like claws digging into her scalp.

His heart pumped hard. What the hell? “Johanna,” he said, aware his voice was gruffer than he’d intended. “What was that about?”

She stared at him, her eyes wide, like a damn deer caught in the headlights. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

“Prank caller,” she finally said, snapping out of her trance.

Ray ran the pads of his fingers over his goatee. Prank caller, my ass. She’d been engaged in that conversation, had been responding to the person on the other end of the line. But her eyes stayed wary and he decided to let it go. He was here for a purpose. Marianne’s murder needed his attention, and he wanted to know Johanna’s secret.

“Sorry for barging in,” he said, “but I’d like to continue the conversation we started back in my office.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You mean about Marianne? Are the deputies coming back?”

He shook his head. “They’re gone.” She looked puzzled as he continued. “You brought up la Llorona.”

“Yes,” she said flatly.

Her voice had lost the shaky edge it had held a moment ago on the phone. Hell, now it almost sounded like it could freeze water. Her own form of self-preservation, he supposed. “You wrote your master’s thesis on her?”

Johanna slumped against her desk and ran one hand over her face, down her neck, let it settle on her chest. “Yes.”

“Why?”

She hesitated, and for a moment looked like she wasn’t going to respond. Then she spoke, her voice softer, more thoughtful. “My mother believed in her.”

Odd. Johanna had placed a strange emphasis on the word believed. Hadn’t her mother simply known about the story? Why would she believe in a ghost tale? “La Llorona is a legend,” he said.

She started when her cell phone rang. Her sudden jerk sent the tips of her fingers slipping under the vee of her sweater. His eyes followed the path as her hand settled on the swell of her breast. He swallowed, narrowing his eyes as he forced his gaze back to her face. Her phone, playing a traditional cumbia rather than a regular ring tone, continued for a full ten seconds while she stood frozen. She didn’t even look at where it sat on the desk.

He tried not to think about whatever might be going on in her personal life that warranted heated phone calls. A bad break-up, maybe? He hadn’t heard she was dating anyone, but she might be. Much as he hated to admit it to himself, he didn’t want her to have a personal life. It messed with his fantasy.

Enough. He had to get his head back in the game. Had to focus on why he was here —and that reason was not to stare at her breasts or get jealous over imaginary lovers or remind himself of the fantasies he’d had of her—fantasies featuring her naked. Her hot mouth on his. Her skin sliding sinuously under his.

About Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

Melissa Bourbon, who sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name Misa Ramirez, gave up teaching middle and high school kids in Northern California to write full-time amidst horses and Longhorns in North Texas. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.

She is the Marketing Director with Entangled Publishing, is the founder of Books on the House, the co-founder of The Naked Hero, and is the author of the Lola Cruz Mystery series with St. Martin’s Minotaur and Entangled Publishing, and A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series with NAL. She also has two romantic suspense novels, and is the co-author of The Tricked-out Toolbox, all to be released in 2012/2013.

When I started thinking about the things I like to do, I got a bit down because I don’t do too much of anything these days, primarily due to location or age or financial considerations. I used to do some crafts – I made silk flowers and did some quilling. I have no talent for sewing or anything along those lines. Was never any good at knitting or crocheting. I do enjoy spending time with my husband and traveled with him for three months last year when he was driving over the road – saw 35 states in that time frame. I’ve now joined him at work everyday as we start a new business selling emergency and disaster supplies. I love spending time with my daughter but she moved to Arizona in June. And I love reading, whether it be print or on an ereader. I’ve discovered I’m boring!!!😦 I do love the sound of Melissa’s books and will be adding to my wish list.

About Sarah Ballance

Sarah and her husband of what he calls “many long, long years” live on the mid-Atlantic coast with their six young children, all of whom are perfectly adorable when they’re asleep. She never dreamed of becoming an author, but as a homeschooling mom, she often jokes she writes fiction because if she wants anyone to listen to her, she has to make them up. As it turns out, her characters aren’t much better than the kids, but nevertheless, you’ll find her writing sexy contemporary romance for Entangled Publishing until they throw her out. To learn more, visit http://sarahballance.com.